When Hyun Woo stepped into the study, he did not bow awkwardly. He did not fidget. He did not look around like a child overwhelmed by wealth. He walked in.
Stopped.
And met Song Minkyu's gaze directly. That was the first thing that unsettled him.
Those eyes.
Too steady.
Too aware.
Far too calm for a child.
"What do you want?" Minkyu asked, his tone neutral.
He expected hesitation, nervousness, a request for something childish. But Hyun Woo spoke immediately.
Clear.
Measured.
"I want your daughter."
Silence fell.
Heavy.
Almost absurd.
Kate Song, seated nearby, blinked in disbelief. "Excuse me?" she said softly, as if she had misheard. But the boy did not falter.
"I intend to marry her," he continued.
"As soon as she is of age."
For a moment, Minkyu simply stared at him.
Then...a soft, incredulous laugh slipped out.
"You're ten," he said flatly.
"Yes."
"You don't even know what marriage means."
"I know what commitment means," Hyun Woo replied calmly.
The room shifted. Subtly.
Kate exchanged a look with her husband. Not alarmed. But… intrigued. Minkyu leaned back slightly, studying him now not as a child...but as something else. Something odd.
"And why," he asked slowly, "would I give my daughter to someone like you?"
A pause.
Not uncertainty.
Deliberation.
Then Hyun Woo answered:
"Because I will protect her."
Simple.
Direct.
Too simple.
Kate's brows softened slightly. There was sincerity there.
Strange.
Unfiltered.
But real.
Minkyu, however, did not smile. "You speak as though she needs protecting," he said. "She is the most secured child in this country." Hyun Woo shook his head. Very slightly. "That only protects her from things you can see." The words landed heavier than they should have. "And what do you see?" Minkyu asked.
A pause.
Something flickered in the boy's eyes. Something that didn't belong to his age. "Everything that comes after," Hyun Woo replied quietly.
Silence.
It was then... That Minkyu realized something unsettling. This wasn't a child's fantasy. This wasn't infatuation.
This was a decision or more like fate. Her predestined one has finally surfaced.
Still....
He could not take it seriously. "You're asking for something you cannot possibly understand," Minkyu said.
"Come back when you are a man."